For Those About To Rent

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I'm the Jew, please step the fuck off my kosher beef stick.

If you wanna do what I did AND stay in the same area no matter what, then what I would do is get a house listing every single month by every realitor in town.

Count the total houses for sale. When you start to see that number go down, then you'll know people are out there buying again, and the market will start to swing upwards.

Of course, if you do it this way, then you might let a gem or two slide right by ya.

But if you're that worried about the purchase price and being able to afford a home, then I would just go to the bank and say "Hey, I found a house for this dollar amount... what is the monthly payment, including taxes, insurance, etc."

You'll then be able to figure out what price tag you can afford, and most importantly.. what you should stay away from.

I have to disagree one point tho - The current situation is not the fault of the banks. I've purchased two homes before, and they specifically tell you, a hundred fricking times, EXACTLY what your monthly payment is going to be. And, if it's an adjustable rate mortgage, they gotta tell you that too.... so it's ENTIRELY the fault of the buyer, 100%.

If anyone reading this got fucked by an adjustable rate, and are foreclosing... then you're a fucking tool, and a douche bag. Thanks for stopping....
 


Home prices will continue to decline as a whole nationwide but that doesn't mean it isn't a good idea to still buy a home IF it's priced right. If you are spending more per month on rent than a mortgage payment 'generally' it would probably be a good time to buy. Obviously there are a lot of other factors involved like how long you plan to stay in the house, type of loan, employment rates in that area, etc.
 
i live in southern ca, my neighborhood isnt that nice and the cheapest 1 story house (thats not a total piece of shit) ive seen is about 700k. People still dont realize that their houses are worth less, so i dont think the price is as low as it will go.

Ive been thinking about buying a place, but i think i can only afford a condo right now, or maybe a duplex and rent one of the units out.

Im sure you can find a cheap place out in bakersfield:)
 
gdubs12345 said:
i live in southern ca, my neighborhood isnt that nice and the cheapest 1 story house (thats not a total piece of shit) ive seen is about 700k. People still dont realize that their houses are worth less, so i dont think the price is as low as it will go.

Ive been thinking about buying a place, but i think i can only afford a condo right now, or maybe a duplex and rent one of the units out.

Im sure you can find a cheap place out in bakersfield:)
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Jesus fuck, if you can afford a 700k place, or close too it, then move to the midwest and buy your house for cash. You'll save yourself a mint and still be able to operate your on-line business without any trouble.
 
Wait until the market starts levelling off. Find statistics on the area about how long places are staying on the market. When that number starts steadily rising, it's a fairly good sign the market is headed in an upswing.

Regardless, if you plan on living there for the next 5-10 years, you should be ok as prices will most likely have risen above their current level by then.
 
Stockton is a shit as far as property values go, I would wait if that's really where you want to buy.

I was surprised as hell to find my property just went up $40k in the last few months (Bay Area), still hasn't recovered the nearly 90k it dropped, but still. I'm suspecting it'll be going down further and places like Sacramento, Stockton and so on will take a long time to recover.
 
Priority_Mail90 said:
Stockton is a shit as far as property values go, I would wait if that's really where you want to buy.

I was surprised as hell to find my property just went up $40k in the last few months (Bay Area), still hasn't recovered the nearly 90k it dropped, but still. I'm suspecting it'll be going down further and places like Sacramento, Stockton and so on will take a long time to recover.
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I talked to my friends dad who is a real estate agent for 30 or so years. He pretty much promised me that the home prices will continue to drop in stockton. But not in all areas. Some parts like souther california and the bay area are expected to start rising soon.
 
I'm in Australia, and at the moment we are faced with rising interest rates and falling property prices.

There is only one thing I know about property prices in your area, and that is nobody posting in this thread has any idea what the property price will be in, say, 12 or 24 months time.

The most successful investors over time do exactly the opposite of what everybody else is doing in a particular investment. Property, stocks, businesses time and time again it is the people doing the opposite of everybody else that make the most money. Just make sure you have the investing time line to make good on your investment and you are not trying to jump in and out of a property market to make a quick buck.

And while this should be obvious, also make sure that you can absolutely make the repayments if interests rates go up significantly, not just a bit but significantly. ie. in Australia we are facing something like 12 year highs in interest rates. My own variable rate mortage costs me about $700 a month more now then it did when I took it out. Make sure if this situation happens to you that you are not forced into selling the house at a loss into a already tanking market.

Make sure you are in a good position to make the purchase, jump in and do it when you are ready, then hang on for the ride. Nobody knows what is going to happen from here. Anybody who tries to tell you they do is a fool.
 
Echo-Radius said:
Jesus fuck, if you can afford a 700k place, or close too it, then move to the midwest and buy your house for cash. You'll save yourself a mint and still be able to operate your on-line business without any trouble.
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People rather pay more to live in a nice area ;-).
 
Prices will continue to go down till the magnetic poles flip in 2012. Then we are all going to die anyway :)

On a serious note - renting right now has it's own risks. Read somewhere that 250,000 to a million renters will be renting a house that goes through forclosure.... meaning they will probably be evicted even if they pay their rent.
 
If I were you I would find a homeowner in the area who is willing to do a 2-3 year lease-option purchase. This way you can lock him down on a really good price (10-20% below what hes asking now) in todays market....if the market picks up again within that timeframe, exercise your option...if the market keeps falling, you can bail out and not risk anything.

As desperate as homeowners are they you can easily find someone who will do this. Just put up some option money ($1,000-$2,500) lease the place from owner for said amount of time and follow the market.

Hope this helps..
 
just don't get a realtor involved...because they will try and tell you "its not your best option" because, like the rest of us, they are trying to make some bread.

Just pick a few houses in the area and start cold-calling.

I did this with the market when it was booming....only I did "rent-to-own"...I would cold-call homeowners, lock them down on my terms then advertise for people who have shitty credit and want to own a home.....then assign the contract over to them...made $3,000-$5,000 per contract...the most I ever did in one month was around 10 or 11...
 
Look, I certainly don't know your area, but I'd rent. The prices are still going down, and on top of that, utilities are going to continue to go up. Not to mention the waste that will be spent on maintenance (money and time suck), and taxes.

I know what it's like to want a home - I'd love one. But for right now, I'm hanging back and watching everything fall. Doing that, I also get to spend more time developing, since I'm not mowing the lawn or fixing something.

I'll jump in at the bottom, and hopefully get a better investment in the end.

Good luck.
 
I talked with a realtor a month or so ago when my mom was buying a house. He said that houses in our area are still appreciating, although only about 2% per year.

Anyone know what the prices are doing in the Baltimore area? We looked at moving out there several years ago and they had staggering appreciation back then.
 
A member of my immediate family works in mortgage and real estate finance in Orange County and he told me just yesterday that he doesn't believe the market has found its bottom.
 
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